The production of metal carbides and the generation of hydrogen and gaseous hydrocarbons by reacting the carbides with water or an acid solution is an old art. Acetylene produced from calcium carbide was used as an illuminating gas in automobiles before electric lights were employed, and the patent literature relating to the production of various carbides goes back nearly a hundred years (see Whitehead U.S. Pat. No. 555,796). A Johnson U.S. Pat. No. 2,686,819, discloses the production of methane by forming ferrous carbide by reacting ferrosic oxide with carbon monoxide, and then reacting the carbide with hydrogen. Johnson suggests that any metal capable of forming a carbide may be utilized in this synthesis. Russ, U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,852, discloses forming a mixture of metastable carbides and stable carbides by heating metals forming these carbides in the presence of carbon, and then hydrolizing the carbides to produce natural gas-type carbons. In accordance with the Russ disclosure, "The carbides of this invention must contain at least one metastable, and at least one stable carbide-forming metal element each."
It has been found that, as distinguished from the Russ method, a fuel source can be produced that generates less than 10% hydrogen, less than 50% methane, and the balance substantially all saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons (e.g., ethane, propane, and butane), when treated with steam or a mildly acidic solution, by using manganese as the sole or as the preponderant metallic constituent of the source under the conditions described.
One of the objects of this invention is to provide a fuel source by which a rich (in the general range of 900 BTU per cubic foot) gaseous fuel can be generated.
Other objects will become apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the following description.